Controlling Trump By Feeding His Ego - Barf ...

I finished reading "Collusion" by Luke Harding a week or so ago. It's a great book and it clarified a lot for me. Everybody should read this book.

When the Russians first were sizing up Trump they determined that he would be an ideal candidate to recruit because he was very susceptible to flattery.

When Russian ambassador, Yuri Dubinin, met Trump in New York in 1985, he "charmed" him by telling him, "The first thing I saw in the city was your tower."

"Trump melted at once. He is an emotional person, somewhat impulsive. He needs recognition. And, of course when he gets it he likes it. My father's visit worked on him [Trump] like honey to a bee". "Collusion", page 222.

 After the tax bill was finally passed by both the House and Senate, Paul Ryan praised  Trump's "exquisite presidential leadership". Orin Hatch called him "one heck of a leader". Mitch McConnell said this year was "a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the Trump Administration".

 

It was a love fest for sure.

 The praise flowed like syrup. What it lacked was sincerity. Barf ...

Diane Black said, "Thank you, President Trump, for allowing us to have you as our president." Ugh!

Mike Pence called them "historic tax cuts" and described it as a "middle-class miracle". Yeah, it's a friggin miracle.

What everybody was really praising is Donald Trump's signature. Donald Trump has no idea what's in this legislation. He had nothing to do with it's drafting. The sole thing he will contribute to it is his grandiose scrawl.

Trump offered up his own humble assessment, "I promised the American people a big, beautiful tax cut for Christmas. With final passage of this legislation, that is exactly what they are getting … By cutting taxes and reforming the broken system, we are now pouring rocket fuel into the engine of our economy. America is back to winning again, and we’re growing like never before."

Who then is responsible for this abomination? Who was it who orchestrated this over one and a half trillion dollar giveaway to the ultra rich? Who got caught with their pants down?

The Trump fiasco is really extraordinary. The head of the Russian Kleptocracy initially compromised Trump and groomed him for the American Presidency. Putin owns Trump. Putin kills reporters and political opponents. Putin is the real deal.

However Putin was no match for these shameless hucksters. They've been buying local, state and federal politicians for decades. They control Trump now and when they are done with him they will discard him like the trash he is.

In the meantime, Trump will sign what they tell him to sign, when they tell him to sign it. That's the deal. As long as Trump is useful to those who will remain pants-less, he can parade around and tweet and praise himself ad nauseam.

Putin can have the rest of the world. He can take satisfaction from creating the largest security breach in our country's history. He got his man in the White House.

This drama's final act has yet to come. Things could spin out in all directions. Our country will suffer irreparable harm. Hell, the whole world will be negatively impacted, but it ain't over yet. It ain't over till the fat lady sings and when that happens we'll hear it no matter where we are.

Holy Moly!

The Trump Producers - A Criminal Smorgasbord

"The Producers" has to be one of the best and funniest movies ever made. Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder delivered perfect performances.

The movie could have been titled "The Best Made Plans Of Mice And Men". First there is the corruption of Leo Bloom, a naive accountant, at the hands of Max Bialystock, an aging Broadway producer who has resorted to sexually preying on old ladies to sustain himself.

Max corrupts Leo with a mixture of flattery and dreams of wealth. It's a simple scheme that relies on producing a Broadway flop. That's it, oversell the play to investors. When the play is a total flop, there will be no accounting. The investors will just report their losses and never know they had been conned.

The only thing they required was a script that was doomed from the start and actors who were total hams. They chose a play that was written by an aging Nazi. The play, "Springtime For Hitler", was a tribute to Adolph Hitler.

Max turned it into a musical. The audience was initially stunned. After all, this was Manhattan.

Just as the audience is about to leave the leading man takes the stage. The audience pauses. Then one person laughs. Then another. Then the audience returns to their seats and howls with laughter.

Yes, "Springtime For Hitler" is a smash Broadway hit. A farce that opens to rave reviews. Bialystock and Bloom are doomed. The investors realize the production was oversold and it's off to prison for the producers.

In 2016, American voters turned a second rate, fascist roadshow into a smash hit in real life. Donald J. Trump won the election.

Vladimir Putin produced this debacle. Russian oligarchs along with the Russian mafia invested heavily in this drama. Wealthy Americans, along with American white supremacists, also invested in the Trump campaign.

After the election a new calculus was done by the Republican leadership and their backers. In our system, Congress, the Legislative Branch, is tasked with bringing a criminal president to justice.

The House can impeach based upon "Treason, Bribery, or other High crimes and Misdemeanors" and the Senate tries the case. Our founding fathers put this in our Constitution to prevent a criminal from taking over and perverting the Executive Branch and jeopardizing the country.

The evidence against Trump is massive. The House has a virtual smorgasbord of offenses to charge Trump with. Trump has literally covered the entire spectrum of offenses and everything he did is well documented and corroborated by multiple sources.

So why hasn't the House impeached Trump? Why isn't there a trial in the Senate? How do you spell puppet?

Okay, here goes. Trump is saved from financial ruin by Russians. They bail him out and prop him up and cultivate him. Russia then invades our election process with an army of cyber warriors working to support Trump. Trump, the Russian puppet wins the election.

Ah, but then there are Trump's American backers and they want their share. They have their own preferred Trump puppeteer.

All this is interesting, but in the end the real power rests in the hands of the Republican controlled Congress. They can get rid of Trump or they can use him. They can make him an offer he can't refuse.

They've all seen "The Godfather". They can let him stay in office and say whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that he signs whatever legislation they put on his desk. What matters is that he reads whatever script they give him when the need arises. For instance, they need a Republican Senator elected in Alabama and Trump endorses Moore. Simple, right?

If they can manage to get legislation past the objections of members of their own party, Trump will sign it. No questions asked. They are the closest they have been to doing just that right now.

This is all so simple. Trump is a puppet with multiple masters. No wonder his speech is slurred at times. No wonder people go crazy trying to makes sense of what he says from one moment to the next. Too bad our free press doesn't get it. They are either blind or distracted.

The fate of our Republic truly rests in the hands of one man right now. That's why the Republicans in Congress are trying so hard to get rid of him. Say a prayer for Robert Muller. If he goes, so goes the nation.

I don't think this is a reasonable situation for either Mueller or the nation to be in. Trump is not the problem. There are multiple competing producers behind this. They are multinational. They are multi ideological. They are all wealthy. They are all using money to corrupt us. A corrupted electorate is the problem.

Holy Moly!

Trump's Beer Hall Putsch - By Proxy

In 1923, Adolph Hitler attempted to lead a rebellion. He failed. He was arrested and sentenced to prison. The failed rebellion became known as the Beer Hall Putsch.

Hitler eventually rose to power and the world suffered for it. Today we have a Hitler surrogate in the United States. He is a man who was compromised and recruited by Russia's President, Vladimir Putin.

Trump is our very own Moscovian Candidate. A criminal opportunist who has betrayed his country for economic reasons. A psychopath who has resonated with other psychopaths across our country.

Unlike Hitler, who actually led his attempt at rebellion, Trump has allowed proxies to stand in for him. Today Trump's putsch took place in Charlottesville, Virginia without Trump.

American NAZIs and the KKK and other white supremacists marched. They came armed with assault weapons and clubs and shields.

Last night we saw a torchlight parade in Charlottesville that could have been shot by Leni Riefenstahl.

To be clear, we have had NAZIs in the United States before. Prior to World War II the NAZI Party was organized and held rallies and even retreats for adults and children.

Today's NAZIs are part of a political coalition that is a significant part of Trump's base. Trump is so totally compromised. He can't afford to alienate his base and he can't cross Putin. When he finally speaks about this, he says nothing.

As I watch this on the TV, I am amazed by how vapid our reporting has become. Instead of castigating the demonstrators, we have an assortment of commentators whose lack of clear condemnation only serves to normalize this type of behavior.

In the last week we have literally been barraged by Donald Trump. His threats against North Korea and Venezuela only added to our confusion and anxiety. We allowed ourselves to be distracted by this. We did not focus on what truly needs to be focused on - the criminal investigation of Trump and an emerging coup.

A recent poll suggested that over half of Trump's supporters would not object if Trump said he needed to suspend the 2018 elections. I don't think we have ever suspended elections. What is happening now?

Steve Bannon is the White House Chief Strategist. He was the executive chair of Breitbart News. He is  a darling of the alt right. He has been promoting nationalist propaganda. Here he is with Dinesh D’Souza in the White House. He's promoting D'Souza's latest book - The Big Lie. The book compares Democrats to NAZIs. 

D'Souza was convicted of making illegal campaign contributions. Another picture shows him in the White House with Sebastian Lukács Gorka. Gorka is deputy assistant to the President. Gorka has actual ties to NAZIs and has a questionable Ph.D.

It's not okay for White House officials to promote books, but Bannon and Gorka have no problem doing so. So much of what goes on in the Trump administration is illegal and unethical. Trump began dismantling our government from day one. He has appointed incompetents to his cabinet, with the notable exceptions of Mattis and McMaster.

Trump will be completely exposed if Muller proceeds with his investigation. People will go to jail. If the Democrats win back the House in 2018 they will Impeach Trump. What's a traitor to do?

Trump is not about to go to jail. I have no doubt he would take the country down first, but that is where he is headed unless he does something dramatic like suspend elections and take his coup public. In order to do that, he needs popular support and that's what Charlottesville is all about - an emerging army of Brown Shirts. 

I don't know if Trump can pull this off. He has the Republican Congress, but he has also been willing to alienate them recently by attacking Mitch McConnell. Why? Is he abandoning them to form his own party? He's had his own private security force all along. Now he just might be desperate enough to take the final leap. What has he got to lose?

A miraculous savior is not going to stop this. George Washington is not going to come back from his grave and clean out D.C. Our best hopes are Robert Mueller and James Mattis. Robert can prosecute under the rule of law and James can prevent the misuse of our military, but they are operating within the law and could get swept up along with everyone else.

Now's the time to ask what you can do for your country. Sitting on your butt and burying your head in the sand ain't gonna fix this. Start demanding action from our Congress. Either that or resign yourself to the possibility of living in a dictatorship.

Holy Moly!